Winners & Losers

The Loser:

Uuugh, my sister gave a copy of Glenn Beck's book to my brother for Christmas. I warned him to take it with, shall I say, a GRAIN OF SALT. The title of the book is "An Inconvenient Book - Real Solutions to the World's Biggest Problems." While I try to keep an open mind I totally disagree with most everything he says. His manipulation of facts in the name of "truth" is most interesting. I'm glad the political right has a new hack — they need all the help they can get to perpetuate their fear-mongering, distortions, and downright lies.

So, tonight, I present to Glenn Beck the Golden Poop Award for twisting and manipulating "truth," in the name of truth.

The Winner:

Hurray! It made my week to see one of my heroes in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Ray Anderson, head of Interface, a Georgia-based carpet business. He is a national leader in the corporate sustainability movement and is working to reduce his company's impact on the Earth to zero.

As the story goes, in 1994 he read the book "The Ecology of Commerce" by Paul Hawken and then had a life-changing epiphany.

"It was like a spear in the chest," he says. "I had never given a single thought to what we were taking from the Earth ... I was convicted as a plunderer of the Earth, and I've spent the last 13 years as a recovering plunderer."

In recent years he has transformed his carpet company into a sustainable firm and a role model for all companies around the world. Unlike other businesses, he is doing more than just recycling — his firm is into restoration. In other words, "Let's put back more than we take. let's do more good than harm."

WOW, I love this guy. And for his great work I bestow upon him not the Golden Goose Award, but the Platinum Goose Award — the highest honor that I can give to any Earth-Saver.

Bless you Ray Anderson, for you give me and my family hope.

Oh, let me finish with another of his great quotes. This is how he defines sustainability:

"At Interface, [sustainability] means operating our pretroleum-intensive company in such a way as to take nothing from the Earth that's not naturally and rapidly renewable and do no harm to the biosphere. On the equity side, it means treating people fairly."

Awesome — that says it all. I LOVE IT!

The Goose




Ray Anderson, a great leader in the Sustainability Movement.

Corporate Power

Wow, that is sad news about Kenneth Lay of Enron fame, who just died yesterday of a heartattack. I had slammed him on my old blog a while back, now I feel bad. The point being is that he cheated his shareholders and employees out of millions, and always maintained his innocence. It's as if he just couldn't bring himself to accept responsibility for any wrongdoing -- which is so typical of corporate executives. It's as if they are soul-less, money-making machines and they are so far removed from reality they forgot that they even have a soul. May Mr. Lay rest in peace.

Republicans are big into "personal responsibility" and this is the one right-wing attribute that I embrace. However, the conservatives use this term selectively. If you are a poor, homeless person living in a box, it's your damn PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY to get a job. But if you are some cigar smoking corporate executive who is fouling the environment and making people sick in the name of profits, well, there is no PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY there. Mr. Corporate Two-Shoes has the responsibility to MAKE A PROFIT at the expense of everything else. Let the government pay for the mess that the company makes; let the public pay for it in terms of poorer health and a reduced quality of life.

So, this gets us to morals. I find that the people who gripe most about morals usually only endorse a single and narrow view. It's IMMORAL for people to be gay. Shame! But nothing is said about a polluting chemical plant, or a power company that lobbies politicians so that they don't have to clean up their nasty plants. That's MORAL because they are making profits, and government should leave business alone to do whatever they want. Let the taxpayer subsidize the impact of the polluting company. That's MORAL, and that's the way of the good righteous conservatives. Give me a break! The hypocriscy makes me sick. I mean, really.

The Goosey Goose

It's All About Me - Me Good American!

Rep. Richard Pombo is a big property
rights guy who's looking out for
number one.

We Gonna Gut That Endangered Species Act

"I don't care about them dumb animals. I want to develop my land and make money. Because it's all about money. It's all about private land rights — not the better good of the community. I got me a ranch and I can do anything I want with it."

Yep, this summer Rep. Pombo (R-CA) led the drive to gut the Endangered Species Act. The Pombo bill has passed the House and may soon go to the Senate. Good boy, Pombo — just like all those other GOP people, you are feeling empowered to destroy what's left of U.S. environmental laws.

It's all about you. It's all about the American Lifestyle. Who cares about protecting all the other animals that we share the Planet with — the important thing is that Richard Pombo must have the right to plow up his land, sell it off to build condos, or whatever. Because it's not about the Earth, the Future, or anything else. It's all about Pombo and his sacred rights.

Now I hear that Pombo is going after the National Environmental Policy Act, one of our nation's most important environmental laws. Yep, those good GOP members who hate the environment with a passion (but give conservation lip service) are now having a feeding frenzy. They are settling their vendetta's with Mother Earth, all for a few pieces of silver and the blessings of their capitalist masters.



Ain't nobody gonna tell me what
to do with my land. This is MY LAND
and I'm a third generation rancher
with a giant chip on my shoulder.


Surprise!

Okay, this may come as a shock to you, Congressman Pombo and all you gun-toting land rights folks. The World is owned by GOD! Nobody can own land. Whoever thought that idea up hundreds of years ago is just plain wrong. We humans and all other animals must share the LAND — humans don't have any special entitlement to take it over and kill or run off everything else on it.

Canary, you're sounding radical tonight. Not even Left Wingers go this far.

Sorry, but at the very most, we are given the privilege to take care of a piece of land for the brief period we are alive. Maybe Rep. Pombo claims that, but what it's really about to him is the rights of the Individual at the expense of the Community of Life and the Future.

"Ain't no government going to tell me what to do on my land. It's mine, damnit, mine! All mine. I paid fer it. I own it. And I got me this shotgun to prove it."

Yeah, right. Every time I hear about these property rights activist, I realize that humankind still has a long way to go.

That's all for tonight, folks.

The Yellow Canary